The ward’s so noisy with other kids crying or coughing, and there are more doctors and still no one gets what’s wrong with me. And when Nadia finishes her shift and comes in, she bursts into tears.

‘Why didn’t you say you were so ill, Darryl?’ Like I’ve done it on purpose.

‘I only fainted once. And I feel OK now. Can we go?’

‘Not till they make you better.’

‘You OK?’ Casey stands close to me, her face full of concern.

‘Sorry.’ My head pounds and I try to breathe away my panic, like that Gemma woman suggested. But it’s not working this time.

‘Have you had enough for today? You’ve gone pale and weird.’

The last thing Casey needs is to worry about me. ‘You’re right. Let’s finish the tour next time I pick you up,’ I say. ‘Plus it’s lunchtime. Why don’t I take you to my favourite cafe and you can tell me all about your treatment.’

‘Ugh, it’s boring enough having a tumour, without having to talk about it the entire time.’

‘OK, we’ll talk about anything but the tumour. Like all the places you could go in the next three and a half weeks.’

‘This favourite cafe doesn’t have inflatable parrots, does it?’

I shake my head. ‘No kids’ menu, either. And definitely no chocolate fountain.’

‘Bring it on.’

Once I’m out of the hospital, the buzzing stops, just like that.

‘I need to ask you something,’ Casey says as we walk.

‘Sure.’ My jaw tightens. Did I give something away while I was freaking out back there?’

‘What can I call you? Not Dad – that’d be weird, and Mum would hate it.’

I smile. ‘My friends call me Dan or Danny or Lennon or Lenny.’

She shakes her head. ‘Too weird.’ We turn onto Christmas Steps and she skips down so fast it makes me dizzy. At the bottom she dances to music coming out of a hair salon and I’m surprised by how elegant she is, as her mum has two left feet.

‘Do you have a middle name?’

‘No.’

‘So you’re DL. Daniel Lennon. DL sounds mega-cool. Will you hear me if I call you DL?’

‘Hear you?’

‘Earlier, when you were freaking out, I thought you were going to collapse and I couldn’t seem to get you to hear me.’

So the real reason she wants to give me a name is because she feels she needs to care for me, as well as her mum. I want to make things easier, not have Casey getting stressed out about me too. I must try harder.

‘DL it is. I can get used to that.’

After taking her to BayCaff – where she eats a huge BLT, plus half of mine – we go back to the penthouse, which stinks of bleach. Angelica’s been cleaning again. She scrutinizes Casey, like she’s terrified even a couple of hours alone with me could have done irreparable damage.

‘How was your day, sweetie?’ she asks.